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In a thoughtful and thought-provoking post Chris Creegan discusses the issue of “identity politics” and whether it has “gone too far” as some on the centre-left are now arguing. In the constructive spirit of Chris’s piece here’s my brief comment…

Originally posted on Manchester Policy Lab: Colin Talbot 16 Nov 2016 A lot of public policymaking is based on at least some form of social inquiry – how do Governments know what is going on in their societies and what do they want…

This article was originally drafted in 2004 but most of the argument is still highly relevant today. WARNING: longer read What links the terrorist attacks in the USA on 11th September 2001, the failures of the UK Child Support Agency,…

Neoliberalism is a myth. It’s a pervasive myth on one side of politics – the left. But it is nevertheless a myth. Let’s start with one simple and obvious fact – no-one claims to be a neoliberal. This is rather…

Originally posted by Colin Talbot Filed Under: Whitehall Watch Posted: June 9, 2011 ——————– It is widely recognised, and mostly accepted, that ‘utilities’ provide a public service and not just private services, so it is legitimate to regulate them in ways that ensure the public…

The current Labour leadership contest between Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith is being framed by Smith and his supporters as the ‘competent, pragmatic, socialist versus the ‘incompetent, ideological, socialist’ Corbyn. What is fascinating here is that – for Smith’s supporters…

The appointment of Boris Johnson as Foreign Secretary took almost everyone by surprise. Why has he been appointed? It’s hard to fathom without recourse to ‘Kremlin watching’ explanations about internal machinations in the Conservative Party. I’ll leave aside the questionable…

Margaret Hodge has put forward an idea that may offer a very small glimmer of hope for Labour moderates. She has suggested, as I understand it, that the PLP should hold “Primaries” for the leadership and then back one candidate…

So Labour’s NEC have decided to “interpret” the rules in Corbyn’s favour. Those who wrote them made it abundantly clear they were meant to create a level -playing field for all nominees and, crucially, to ensure a ‘filter’ of minimum…

The EU referendum result came as a shock to just about everyone, including the leaders of the “Leave” campaign (and me). The aftershocks of this earthquake in British politics are still being felt. Three of the central antagonists – the…

Let’s be very clear – many on the British far-left (and far too many Muslims unfortunately) don’t believe the state of Israel should exist. (See this on the ‘Stop the War’ website as an example.) They think it is a…

Time for a confession. When I was about 10 years old I was already engaged in a risky criminal enterprise. As you can see from the picture, Dover Harbour is really big. People fished in the harbour, off the beach…

The amount of flim-flam and chaff being thrown about by both supporters and critics of David Cameron over his possible involvements with off-shore tax avoidance activity is quite staggering. Some of the journalists covering it have displayed appalling ignorance. So…

There is one number virtually no-one* has mentioned in all the coverage of the Budget – £375bn. £375bn is the amount of government debt (bonds) held by the Bank of England. Part of the reason for Mr Osborne’s perpetual smirk…

The comedian Jeremy Hardy has been making jokes about the mental health of Kevan Jones, the Labour MP who Ken Livingstone also famously made disparaging comments about in the same vein. Jones has committed the ‘crime’ in their eyes of…

Jeremy Corbyn’s latest suggestion is that, perhaps, we could retain Trident submarines (and the jobs that go with them) but have them without the warheads? This would satisfy both his Trade Union allies and his CND chums. Like most people my…

And what, exactly, is “democratic centralism” I hear you ask? It is the form of organization pioneered by Lenin and the Bolsheviks and adopted by all communist and Trotskyist organizations ever since. In this model the political party is not…

[short review] The Silo Effect – why putting everything in its place isn’t such a bright idea. Gillian Tett, Little, Brown. 2015 £20.00 This is in many ways a good book, especially for people who have never come across or…